Although our children have been out of diapers for about two years now, we still have quite a collection of diaper wipes bins. Each time we bought a case of wipes from BJ's Wholesale Club, one more empty bin was added to our collection. I have always used them to hold small toys, but have recently discovered a new way to repurpose them.
I got the idea of making pre-assembled boredom kits from Savannah of the Garnish blog. Since this is a school vacation week, it was the perfect time for me to test this project out. It only took one day for our children to come to me to tell me they were bored. I had made 6 kits altogether and will refill each one with something new after it has been used. Below you will find labels that are sized to fit on the ends of Huggies Wipes bins. All I did was print and cut out the labels. Then I glued them on with a little Modge Podge and added another thin layer of Modge Podge on top to seal them.
Now comes the fun part . . . filling your "Boredom Kits!" I did purchase a few things from the craft store, but a lot of what I used were things I had in the house already or could print off the Internet.
Ideas for filling your "Boredom Kits" . . .
- Color pencils, crayons, or markers with printed coloring pages
- A brightly colored crayon with several copies of this free printable at-home scavenger hunt activity
- Fun pens with printed mazes, word searches, Sudoku, drawing, dot-to-dot, or other puzzles
- Fabric markers with a blank shirt for each child
- 20 drinking straws to use for a game of Pick-Up Sticks. (To play, simply drop the bundle of straws onto a flat surface, allowing them to land randomly. Then take turns trying to pick one straw up without disturbing any of the other straws.)
- Glue sticks, a variety of colored construction paper pre-cut into small shapes, and half sheets of blank paper
- Beads in a variety of shapes and colors with a spool of plastic lacing and a pair of child-safe scissors
- Markers and a blank jigsaw puzzle
There was one glitch that was unforeseen by me. An 8.5" x 11" piece of paper is just slightly too wide to roll and fit inside the bins. I had to trim them to make them fit.
When my children came to me and announced that they were bored, I instructed them to choose one bin. They could not look inside the bins before choosing and they had to agree to do whatever activity was inside. The first Boredom Kit my children chose contained age-appropriate word searches and mazes. All three of our children, ages 8, 5, and 5 actually enjoyed doing these puzzles even though some of them were a little challenging for them.
If you have other ideas for filling our Boredom Kits, I would love to hear them. I intend to have these filled and ready-to-go for all those snowy, rainy, and lazy summer days ahead.
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I lve the idea of boredom bins. I would suggest filling one with glue dots and craft sticks, and a set of small papers with building "challenges": make an animal, a building, a bridge, and so on. Also fill one with small paper plates, glue dots, markers, tissue paper and dry beans. Let the children make tambourines and decorate them, then have a parade.
Posted on February 19, 2012 at 8:27 PM
@MomOf2Girls: Those are great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing. Keep'em coming!! :D
Posted on February 19, 2012 at 8:29 PM
What a great idea, my daughter is always coming to me saying she is bored..
Posted on February 20, 2012 at 11:58 AM
THIS is a brilliant idea! I wish I had thought of this when my kids were young - would have saved many a rainy/snowy day (and my sanity) and even vacation days when we were over tired and just needing a day to regroup. Will definitely be passing this on to family members. Thanks
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 6:46 AM
I just love this idea! I hadn't thought of that. I don't have many bins (I reused them and only bought the refills), but the two I have can certainly be put to good use. Thanks for sharing!
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 9:29 PM
Such a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 9:54 PM
@Savannah: You could totally glue these labels onto other containers, like shoeboxes. :)
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 9:54 PM
This is so much better than recycling them! Very portable and functional!
Posted on February 27, 2012 at 4:02 PM
What a very creative use for these! I hate throwing away anything and you can keep the kids entertained!
Posted on February 27, 2012 at 4:17 PM
I love this idea, every-time I throw them away, I always am thinking to myself, gosh, I should be able to use these somehow. The printable label's are very nice, plan on using these often, thanks!
bec.shockley@gmail.com
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 10:27 AM
How fun is that! Love this idea!
Posted on March 21, 2012 at 12:43 PM
such a great idea!
Posted on April 4, 2012 at 7:17 AM
Don't be bored kits are a great idea and I like the labels too.
Posted on April 15, 2012 at 5:28 PM
This is a fantastic idea! I'm going to make one for the car - thank you!
Posted on April 16, 2012 at 8:45 AM
You are such a creative and considerate mom. This is great recycling too. I use the wipe bins to separate markers, crayons, etc.
Posted on May 31, 2012 at 9:24 AM
This is a cute idea! Perfect now for summer vacation.
Posted on June 7, 2012 at 9:00 AM
What a cute idea to put together for the grandkids! Think I have some extra dishwasher tab boxes around the house I've saved that could be used!
Posted on June 16, 2012 at 7:53 AM
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